Caroleen’s Treasures

We had no power today for 15 hours so we had real hard time because Ella could not live without a fan. It was still bearable in the morning when she was making a collage about The Creation because I let her do it in the living room. Since she is the only student I have today in Sunday School (the kid’s parents are in the ricefields and no one will bring them here), I decided to do the class inside the house. While Ella was doing her thing, I laid in bed because I still can’t move around very much. Then we joined the congregation in the worship service, trying to sit through out the service without feeling dizzy.

After the worship, Donald told Ella her other chicken died. I am glad she took it lightly. I asked her why she is not sad, she said it is fine because her chicken will still live in heaven. Two chicken down, three up. She actually buried it herself and put flower on top of the grave because Donald forgot to do it with some of the chores he ended up doing after the service.

Remember Teddy? Her bear from Russ Berrie & Co which we got from the bale of used toys in our store when she was 1 year old. When I found it among the hundreds of stuffed toys, I said it is PERFECT for Ella because it is so cute and has beans plus it is no like other stuffed bears with long furs which could irritate the baby.

I took this photo last July 7 but it looks exactly the same when Ella first hugged him 4 years ago. She named it Teddy but its name is Trafalgar. So while I was lying in bed the other day, I noticed Teddy’s paws are almost torn and I wonder if there would still be life left with Teddy’s condition. I could sew his “cut” on his armpit but I could not do anything about the paws. So that night I went ebaying. Just trying my luck if I could find same bear as Teddy and was very happy to see the bear as Teddy for $4.95! It was on buy it now promo, 50% off so it was such a great deal.

I was so surprised that Trafalgar has a lot of hair! Donald and Ella got excited to see its real look. So Teddy looks like so old compared to this one.

In the middle f excitement, I was saddened because I have exhausted all my funds in my paypal account and there’s no way I could pay for it. I wanted Ella to have it because Teddy won’t make it until Ella turns 18 but even so I just tried to forget it until Donald told me to email Mama Ingrid in North Carolina. I just nodded. I was too ashamed to tell her about it but for Ella, I did email her with the link. Mama Ingrid was at the office at that time and I told Ella we are not sure if her Lola Ingrid can get it for her because she might be too busy at work and someone could purchase it before she could read the email.

Trying to see how hard it is to find Trafalgar, I opened all the pages of Russ Beerie bears and sure I have a hard time locating it. I went to my sent items and opened the email I sent to Mama Ingrid with the link and clicked it. I was still excited and I was telling Donald how the two bears looked different through time. He was also excited as I am and as sad as I am when the photo of the bear on the page says: BUY IT NOW PERIOD HAS ENDED. Donald was like, “How fast!” I just shrugged and said “Well, it’s not for Ella.” But when I scrolled down the page, I looked at the buyer’s name and it was Mama Ingrid!!!!

I almost fell off my chair. We are very happy about it and Mama Ingrid was very sweet when she asked how Ella wanted it to be boxed. She asked if she should put a book or flashlight with the bear in the box and Ella said she wanted her new bear to have a flashlight so he won’t be scared, and some candies too.